College students allege election

A group of students from The College of Wooster is alleging this week's student government elections were tainted with racism.

Student Government Association president Erik McLaughlin says nothing could be further from the truth.

Elections were Tuesday, and nine of the more than 40 candidates for 21 seats were disqualified for having posters up past the deadline to take them down. Of the nine, six were students of Pakistani or Indian descent. Four of those six had actually won their seats, or would have, had they not been disqualified.

All nine students were disqualified after elections were completed and votes tallied, even though the posters were found Tuesday morning before voting began at 11 a.m. Polls were open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 5-7 p.m.

How and when they were disqualified is making some students wonder about SGA's motivations, and demand that SGA either restore the election results or hold another election.

SGA elections are completely student-run, with no association to the college administration or faculty.

After meeting with SGA and campus officials, the students say their requests are falling on deaf ears and they plan a protest on Monday. The students plan to wear black arm bands and circulate a petition calling for another election, senior Saadakvar Khan said.

"I voted between 5 and 7. I've been mocked. The election was a farce," said sophomore Prateek Sangal.

"Ultimately, this boils down to the process," Senior Rahul Bhalla added. This is not how a democratic election is held."

McLaughlin said he is offended that he or SGA is being labeled as racist. He was asked if the students were disqualified because of their race. "No, not at all. I took offense when someone called me and called me a racist without even knowing who I was," he said.

Members of the SGA cabinet, the group in charge of the election, noticed the posters and took them down Tuesday morning, McLaughlin said, but the full cabinet could not be assembled until later in the day to decide what should be done about students who had not followed the rules.

What could or should have been done remains open to debate, as neither SGA's publicity rules nor its constitution speak to the issue of discipline for breaking a rule.

While the rules say that posters must be removed, they do not detail what happens if posters remain up. Since SGA's Constitution is vague on discipline and does not speak to disqualification, SGA had no right to take the action it did, the disqualified student government candidates said.

McLaughlin said that SGA's cabinet will be reviewing the rules and clarifying them this fall, to lay out specifically what happens to candidates who don't follow the rules.

"It definitely brings up a good issue, but candidates still have to go by the rules, no matter what the consequences are," McLaughlin said. "I'd like to make everyone happy, but I don't think that can happen.

"I don't think it's fair to the other candidates who followed the rules."